Overview
- Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López ordered a higher phase of Independence Plan 200, placing the entire arsenal on full operational readiness between November 11 and 12 with deployments across land, air, naval, riverine and missile forces.
- Planning documents reviewed by Reuters describe a guerrilla "prolonged resistance" with small units at more than 280 sites conducting sabotage, alongside a separate "anarchization" plan to create disorder in Caracas using intelligence services and armed ruling‑party supporters.
- Sources say roughly 5,000 Russian-made Igla shoulder-fired missiles have been deployed, with orders for units to disperse or hide after an initial strike to sustain resistance.
- U.S. officials confirmed the USS Gerald R. Ford strike group has moved into the region, with El País reporting its arrival in the Caribbean as Washington’s broader build-up follows recent maritime strikes on suspected drug boats.
- Military insiders describe Venezuela’s forces as undertrained, poorly paid and reliant on aging Russian equipment, even as Maduro touts mass militia mobilization and the ruling PSUV prepares for an armed phase if hostilities begin.